Stick for ice ball game

ABSTRACT

A stick for ice ball game having a straight handle and a ballhandling member at the end of the handle. The ball-handling member has the opposed ball-stricking faces formed with shovellike cavities and straight parallel lateral edges. It has a ballstriking forward edge at the end away from the handle.

1151' 3,671,038 1 June 20, 1972 United States Patent Liard [54] STICKFOR ICE BALL GAME ISbell 5 1954 [72] Inventor: Maurice Liard, 276Salaberry Street,

JolietteOuebecCanada 3,214,168 10/1965 Sauber...........

Dec. 29, 1969 273/67 R 3,489,412 1/1970 Franck etal......................,.,273/67 A FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICA'I'IONS541,217 11 1941 [22] Filed:

21 Appl. No.3 888,710

Great Britain 592,719 2/1960 Canada.......... 706,285

Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 3, 1969 Canada....

f F 9 .l 9 1 I 1 Canada....................................39,253

Primary Examiner-Richard C. Pinkham Assistant Examiner-Richard .l, ApleyAttorneyRayrnond A. Robic ....A63b59/00 .273/67, 67 A, 73, 95, 96, 129,

52 u.s.c1. 51 1111.01...,............ 58 FieldofSearch...............

References Cited U I STATES PATENTS handling member at the end Of thehandle. The ball-handling member has the opposed ball-stricking facesformed with V1906 shovel-like cavities and straight parallel lateraledges. It has a ball-striking forward edge at the end away. from thehandle.

2 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures 810,224 Sackett.............. 1,585,4465/1926 Warwick... 3,539,186 11/1970 Batten....... 1,459,389 6/1923 BrownP'A'TENTEnJmo nan 3,571,038

SHEEIIUF 2 INVENTOR Maurice LIARD STICK FOR ICE BALL GAME The presentinvention relates to a stick for playing ball game on ice, a game thatcan be associated with hockey which is played with a rubber disc, theplayers wearing skates. In the case of ice ball game, a sphericalbouncing ball, similar to a basket ball, is used and the players do notwear skates but play on their shoes.

This game, also sometimes called ice broom ball game, is becomingextremely popular in spite of the fact that thesticks or broomspresently used offer an extremely limited possibility of using onesskilL'mainIy because of its very primitive construction. Sticks orbrooms at present on use are conventional household brooms, the fibersof which having been cut off short and then soaked in molten rubber toform a layer thereover to hold thefibers together and make thestick orbroom more resistant. It is very difiicult with such brooms, that mayvary appreciably in size and shape from one another, to develop anydegree of skill and obtain satisfactory control over the ball.Furthermore, it has been found that, in use, the brooms tend to deformand, mostly, the rubber layer rapidly wears out and the broom fibersstick out of the body causing rapid wear of the fibers.

'It is a major object-f the present invention to provide a stick forplaying ice ball game which is devoid of theaforementioned drawbacks inthat it is formed to ensure a better possibility of control over theball so that the game may be played with greater skill.

Another object of the invention lies inthe provision of a structure thatcan easily be molded at low'cost and that can be varied in weight so asto satisfy all types of players.

A still further object of the invention lies in that theballhandlingmember at the end of the handle is designed to ensure a morepositive handling of the ball-so that a much greater degree of skill mayeventually be attained by aplayer thus rendering the game much moreexciting.

The aforementioned object of the invention may be attained in a stickfor ice ball game made according to the invention and comprising ahandle having a ball-handling member at one end and in alignment withthe handle. The ball=handling member has a central plane of symmetrycontaining the longitudinal axis of the handle and is formed of twoopposed ballstriking faces on either side ofthe plane of symmetry. Eachstriking face is curved when seen in a cross-section which is transversewith respect to the longitudinal axis of the handle and is curvedinwardly in the direction of the aforesaid plane to take on the generalshape of a shovel. The ball-handling member further has a ball-rollingedge at the end thereof remote from the handle and has straight lateralfacesparallel with'the longitudinalaxis of the handle and joining theside edges of the striking faces. The longitudinal axis of the handleextends centrally between the lateral faces.

Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent asthe following description proceeds of a specific embodiment of theinvention having reference to the appended drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a stick made according to the invention;a player holding such a stick as well as a ballbeing illustrated indotted lines;

FIG. 2 is aperspective view on a scale larger than that of FIG. 1, ofthe ball-handling member of the stick;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the ball-handling member;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view, on a larger scale, of the stick at theforward end of the handle;

FIG. 5 is a transverse cross-sectional view of the ball-handling membertaken along line 55 of FIG. 2.

As shown in the drawings, the stick according to the invention comprisesa handle 1 which would normally be an elongated piece of wood having,preferably, a quadrilateral crosssection to avoid rotation movement whenhandled by the player. A ball-handling member 3 is secured at the end ofhandle 1. This member 3 is fully illustrated in FIGS. 2 through 5.Member 3 is seen having a central plane of symmetry containing thelongitudinal axis of the handle I.

As shown, member 3 has a ball-handling portion 5 and a forwardprojection 7 lying over the handle 1. The ball-handling portion 5 isgenerally U-shaped, in plan view, with a rounded bight 9 and has twoopposite ball-strikingfaces 11 on either side of the plane of symmetry,each face 11 being curved in a cross-section transverse with respect tothe longitudinal axis of the handle 1 and being curved inwardly in thedirection of the plane of symmetry to take on the general shape of ashovel. Member 3 further has a ball-rolling edge 17 at the end remotefrom the handle 1 and it has straight lateral faces parallel with thelongitudinal axis of the handle 1, the-said axis extending centrallybetween the lateral faces 13. Preferably, faces 13 have triangularparallel friction ridges. v

While the shovel-like cavities 11 would be used to strike or carry theball around much in the manner of a shovel, the rolling edge 17 ofmember 3 is inwardly curved and gradually merges into the shovel-likecavities; edge 17 being intended to roll the ball rearwardly prior toshooting it and should therefore havea radius of curvature equal to theradius of the ball or slightly larger.

Referring now to FIGS. 3,4 and 5 for a detailed description of thestructure itself of the ball-handling member. In a preferred form of theinvention, the said member 3 is formed of two molded plastic parts 19that meet on the aforesaid plane extending through the longitudinalcenter lines of the lateral edges 15. As would be gathered from FIGS. 3and 5, the molded. parts 19 are identical and inversely symmetrical withrespect to the said plane, when placed one over the other.

As clearly shown in FIG. 3, each part 19 is an inwardly ribbedstructure.A pair of central ribs 2le'xtends parallel with the lateral. faces 13and defines, along with the inner faces of the shovel-like cavities 11,a. housing 23 for one end of the quadrilateral handle 1. The latteris-provided with through apertures 25 intended to receive round studs 27molded integrally with part19 and projecting from the inner surface ofcavities 11, along the longitudinal center line thereof, as

clearly illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4.

The rib structure above-mentioned further comprises.

lateral longitudinal ribs 29 as well as cross ribs 31. Ribs 29 and v 31define, at the junction thereof, a first lug 33 on'one side and a secondlug. 35 on the opposite. side, with respect to the longitudinal centerline of part 1 9. The first lugs'33 have a central 4 hole therethroughsmaller than the mean diameter of the wood screws 37 so that the lattermay easily be inserted-with its tip but tightly clamped in the lugs 33by screwing. On the other hand, the second lugs 35 are formed withcentral holes larger than the head of the wood screws 37 andwith anapertured flange 39 at the bottom thereof on which the screw head' restsas shown in FIG. 5. A first lug 33 always registers with a second lug 35when two parts 19 are laid one over the other so that, in this manner,the two parts 19 making up a ball-handling member 3 are identical andsymmetrical with respect to theircommon meeting plane. Since only onesuch part need be manufactured, it will be gathered that the cost ofthis member will be substantially reduced.

Member 3 being made of plastic will of course be light and since someplayers may prefer to have a heavier stick, provision is made in theball-handling member 3 of the invention to incorporate heavy metalwashers 41. For this purpose, ribs 29 and 31 are provided, adjacent lugs33 and 35 with recessed shoulders 43 on which the washers 41 areintended to rest.

Finally, the parts are connected together by means of screws 37'extending through the two parts forming the forward projection 7 of theball-handling member 3. The connection is similar to that wherein screws37 are used, as described above. I

I claim:

1. A-stick for ice ball game comprising:

a straight elongated handle and a ball-handling member at one end ofsaid handle and in straight alignment therewith;

metry containing the longitudinal axis ofsaid handle and being formed oftwo opposed ball-striking faces each on one side of said plane;

each striking face being concave in the direction of said plane up tothe end of said ball-handling member remote from said handle;

said ball-handling member having a transverse ball-rolling edge at saidremote end, said edge having top and bottom rounded surfaces merginginto said concave ball-striking faces;

said ball-handling member further having straight lateral faces parallelwith said handle longitudinal axis and joining the side edges of saidstriking faces, said straight lateral faces being formed with parallelfriction ridges extending between said striking faces and saidlongitudinal axis extending centrally between said lateral faces;

said ball-handling member being formed of two plastic parts meeting in aplane extending through the longitudinal center lines of said lateralfaces and being identical and inversely symmetrical with respect to saidplane, when placed one over the other;

said parts having a ribbed inner structure, a pair of such ribs beingparallel to said lateral edges and defining, with the inner surfaces ofsaid striking faces, a housing for one end of said handle, and

means securing said parts over said handle end.

2. A stick as claimed in claim 1, wherein said ribbed inner surfacedefines a plurality of symmetrically disposed supports and comprisingloaded elements mounted on said supports to vary the weight of saidmember.

1. A stick for ice ball game comprising: a straight elongated handle anda ball-handling member at one end of said handle and in straightalignment therewith; said ball-handling member having a central plane ofsymmetry containing the longitudinal axis of said handle and beingformed of two opposed ball-striking faces each on one side of saidplane; each striking face being concave in the direction of said planeup to the end of said ball-handling member remote from said handle; saidball-handling member having a transverse ball-rolling edge at saidremote end, said edge having top and bottom rounded surfaces merginginto said concave ball-striking faces; said ball-handling member furtherhaving straight lateral faces parallel with said handle longitudinalaxis and joining the side edges of said striking faces, said straightlateral faces being formed with parallel friction ridges extendingbetween said striking faces and said longitudinal axis extendingcentrally between said lateral faces; said ball-handling member beingformed of two plastic parts meeting in a plane extending through thelongitudinal center lines of said lateral faces and being identical andinversely symmetrical with respect to said plane, when placed one overthe other; said parts having a ribbed inner structure, a pair of suchribs being parallel to said lateral edges and defining, with the innersurfaces of said striking faces, a housing for one end of said handle,and means securing said parts over said handle end.
 2. A stick asclaimed in claim 1, wherein said ribbed inner surface defines aplurality of symmetrically disposed supports and comprising loadedelements mounted on said supports to vary the weight of said member.